


fight or flight

by soapyconnor



Category: The Godfather (1972 1974 1990), The Godfather - Mario Puzo
Genre: Cuddling, High School, M/M, michael gets beat up, tom and sonny come to the rescue?, tom is a worrier, uhhh what else to tag this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-25 09:27:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12528220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soapyconnor/pseuds/soapyconnor
Summary: Tom looked up as he heard shouting coming from outside. He tried to ignore it, and focus on his homework, but one of the shouts sounded too familiar . . .





	fight or flight

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this bc i was super fucking bored and wanted to write something and this immediately came to mind. idk why. this wasn't beta'd. follow me on tumblr if u want: @heggsys

            Tom looked up as he heard shouting coming from outside. He tried to ignore it, and focus on his homework, but one of the shouts sounded too familiar . . .

            He looked out the window, and his heart dropped into his stomach as he watched Michael get punched in the gut, followed by an elbow to the back of his head. Hurriedly, he stood up, and shouted, “I-I have to go. I’m feeling ill.” He then darted out of the classroom as fast as he could.

            As he passed the science room, he yanked the door open and popped his head in. The entire classroom looked up to him, except for Sonny, who was sitting in the back and had his head rested on the table. Shocked and a little panicked, Tom opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it, because his mind kept repeating, _you need to help Michael, you need to help Michael,_ **_you need to help Michael_. **

            Finally, he managed to spit out, “Sonny! I, uh, Vito’s here! We need to go.” Sonny looked up, confused, and opened his mouth to say something, but Tom cut him off, “ _Now!_ ”

            Finally realizing what Tom meant, he yelped and got up, darting through the desks and sending them into disarray. “Shit!” Sonny shouted.

            The teacher looked on disapprovingly, and opened his mouth to say something, but the two of them were far too gone to notice. They ran down the hallway, ignoring the teachers shouting at them to stop, or where their hall passes were, to focused on getting to Michael.

            By the time they had gotten to the spot where Tom had originally seen Michael, he and the other kids were gone. “Fuck!” Sonny yelled, but moments later they heard someone scream in pain.

            Thankfully, it didn’t sound like Michael.

            Tom and Sonny ran off in the direction of the sound. They passed people on the street, and Tom couldn’t help but wonder why everyone was ignoring the shouts, but dared to give them an odd look when they brushed past.

            He shook his head, and they turned down an alley way. The shouts and grunts got louder, and when they finally turned another corner, they saw Michael being held down by two classmates while another one punched him in the face. Tom recognized them immediately, since they had been terrorizing Michael for weeks. The two holding him down were Russ and Theo, while the one throwing all the punches was Harvey. They were giant pricks.

            Sonny yelled angrily, and punched Harvey in the face, knocking him to the ground. Sonny then angrily stomped on Harvey’s face, breaking his nose. He then turned and punched Russ in the gut, before slamming his head into the wall. Tom took Theo and slammed his head into a metal dumpster, before he caught Michael.

            Michael couldn’t hold himself up, and he could barely lift his head. He turned his gaze on Tom, and Tom’s stomach clenched. One of his eyes was swollen shut, and his lip was busted. One of his eyes was beginning to blacken, and there were large patches of blood on his shirt. Tom had no idea what started the fight, and he didn’t _want_ to know, he just wanted to get him somewhere safe.

            He glanced at Sonny. “Are you good?” he asked.

            Sonny wiped at his nose, and kept his fists clenched tightly. “Yeah, I’m fuckin’ good, don’t you worry,” he snapped, before kicking Harvey in the head. Tom had already known that, but it was better to get confirmation from Sonny himself then to leave him be.

            “All right. I’m going to take Michael home. I’ll send pop’s men for ya.”

            “No need, but thanks anyways.”

            Tom just nodded briefly, before he gently pulled Michael to him, and held him close, guiding him out of the alley and onto the street. He rested their heads together, causing Michael to wince. “Ouch,” he mumbled. “Don’t do that.”

            “I’m sorry, I just . . . God. What the fuck happened, Michael?” Tom asked softly, raising his head. He tried to shield him away from the prying public gaze, knowing that the police would get called on them as soon as they saw someone escorting a bloodied man through the streets. “What they hell did you do?”

            “I did nothing,” Michael spat, although he pronounced ‘nothing’ as ‘nuthing’. “They decided to fuckin’ pick a fight with me and I wasn’t goin’ to let ‘em get away without a scratch.”

            “It looks like you’re the one who got your ass beat, Michael,” Tom pointed out gently. “What did they say?”

            “They were makin’ fun of you. How you were a paddy in a family of guineas,” Michael spat. “I fuckin’ hate ‘em. Think they can use slurs like that against us. Fuckers.”

            “Hey now,” Tom said softly. “You’re a Corleone. You know who is and isn’t worth it. They certainly aren’t.”

            “Fuck, I _know_ , but I’m so fuckin’ tired of it.”

            “You know, you could just give the word and pop would take care of it . . .”

            “I don’t want him too. I want to take care of shit without the use of a mob.”

            A black car pulled up beside them, and slowed so it was with their pace. The window rolled down, and Tessio stuck his face out. “Get in the car. We gotta get Mikey to the family doc.”

            “Tell us something we don’t know,” Michael grunted, as Tom opened the door and gently sat him inside, before he climbed in after him. Michael leaned heavily on Tom.

            “Tom, I thought you and Sonny were supposed to be protecting Mike?”

            “It’s hard to do that when he leaves class and gets into a fight outside. We can’t really do nothing about it then,” Tom replied, his voice sharp and scathing.

            Michael reached over and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly. It calmed Tom down a bit. “I’m okay. Just need some patchin’ up. Tom and Sonny came right on time.”

            Tom smiled softly down at Michael, but his eyes darted up to the back of Tessio’s head when he heard him snort. He wanted to punch him, but he knew Vito wouldn’t approve and he was walking on thin ice as it was (even though no one else knew that).

            Michael squeezed his hand tightly again, which caused Tom to gently rest their heads together, although his eyes were constantly on Tessio. “Does your head feel better?” Tom asked softly.

            “A lil. But it might be a concussion. I dunno . . .”

            “Well, just don’t go to sleep then. All right?”

            Michael just nodded tiredly.

 

 

            Tom approached Michael’s room, and stepped in without knocking. He shut the door, and turned around to face Michael, who looked to be asleep on his bed. He rolled over at the sound of his door closing. “Tom? What’cha doing here?”

            “I wanted to come and see you. I knew I wouldn’t be able too until everyone was asleep,” he said softly, walking towards Michael and climbing into bed with him. Michael snuggled up to him, and his eyes fluttered shut. “So, I’m guessing it wasn’t a concussion?”

            “Nah. Doc said I’m pretty okay. Won’t be able to go to school for a few days, but I don’t care. Mama’s pretty worried. She wants pop to kick those kids out of school. Thinks it’ll solve somethin’.”

            “I mean . . . it will solve something. You won’t get bullied by them anymore,” Tom pointed out. Michael blew air out against Tom’s chest. “You know how I hate that.”

            “You should be there then.”

            “Michael. We’re in different grades. You know that’s not possible, despite how much I’d love too . . .” Tom murmured, kissing the top of his head. “Besides. We’d get caught.”

            “We don’t even get caught now, Tom. And you sleep in my bed with me every night.”

            “I know . . . shhhhh,” Tom murmured, “Go to bed.”

            “You just want me t’ go to bed so I’ll f’rget ab’t this.”

            “Damn right,” Tom said, closing his eyes and pulling Michael close. Michael just snuggled closer, and sighed heavily, before allowing himself to drift off.


End file.
